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NYT musical geography project shows artist popularity across the country

The New York Times has published a data visualization comparing the popularity of top artists across the U.S. The publication used a cross-section of Billboard’s Top 100 artists and YouTube viewing data to create heat maps of where those performers are listened to the most (and the least). The artist maps offer insight into where and how some newer big acts got their surge to the top, who is keeping the familiar names atop the charts, and which regions have the most die-hard fan support for local heroes. And yes, there are some interesting surprises. Continue Reading

Personal Audio loses Patent Office challenge, podcasting patent remains invalidated

The Electronic Frontier Foundation announced that a panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has unanimously upheld a ruling against the Personal Audio podcasting patent. The latest court decision is another win for both the EFF and the podcasting community after a few tense years in court. Continue Reading

Neil Young to create interactive online archive of his catalog

Neil Young continues his peculiar path through the contemporary music industry with the announcement of an interactive online archive of his music catalog.Young writes that the archive is as much a record-keeping exercise for himself as a resource for fans. The archive appears to represent some of the concepts Young has emphasized heavily in recent years, such as audio quality and recognition for the many people who participate in music production. Continue Reading

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Amazon Music adds activity voice controls for Echo

Amazon is rolling out several new Alexa voice commands for using its music streaming platform on the Amazon Echo, according to Billboard. The additions include more than 500 activities that Amazon Music can now provide the soundtrack for through the smart home speaker device. Echo owners can also pair the activities with specific music genres such as pop, country, jazz, classic rock or classical. Continue Reading